The same but different … mediating meaningful employment for persons with disabilities
This learning brief considers how the uptake of persons with disabilities as sought-after employees might be facilitated. Recommendations are also provided for the role that industry could play in facilitating best-fit employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. Read the article here
‘If we believe we can do it, we can!’ – Imbasa Community Services reflects on an ABCD workshop
Imbasa Community Services (Imbasa) is a small grass roots organisation based in rural Eastern Cape, a 50 minute drive from the town of Idutywa. The community there has sought to address its most desperate problems by establishing a development organisation, spearheaded by two ambitious young men. There is a very pronounced community spirit or “Ubuntu” […]
“Why aren’t you working?” – A question that should be more loaded than you think
I started off being slightly amused when, during an exercise conducted at the 2014 CSI Conference, Tracey Chambers, Co-Founder of The Clothing bank, displayed a picture of a woman with no teeth and asked the audience “why doesn’t she have teeth?” The typical responses were: “she didn’t brush her teeth”; “she didn’t have a toothbrush”; “there were no dental […]
Fix Forward: An increase in income equals an increase in quality of life – or does it?
Fix Forward is an innovative social enterprise giving home and business owners access to exceptional artisans from the townships, challenging preconceptions and bridging the economic divide. Having been able to successfully assist a number of talented tradesmen to build their own businesses, Fix Forward believed that their tradesmen were well on their way to become […]
The Case for National Senior Certificate Second Chance Programmes: Evidence from DG Murray Trust Partners
Two programmes implemented by our implementing partners, GADRA Matric School (GMS) and the Midlands Community College’s Maths Science and Technology (MST) programme, are successful models which give a second chance to young people who have not performed well enough in their National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations to study the tertiary courses of their choice. We […]
Dreamworker: Deepening our learning and improving our service using a Strategic Conversation Matrix Process
Towards the end of 2011 Dreamworker set themselves the task of deepening their learning about the challenges, issues and uncertainties impacting their work and to see if they could identify areas that would help them improve their employment mediation service. To support their learning they used the Strategic Conversation Matrix, which required them to systematically […]
Incentivising youth employment: What is the Employment Tax Incentive?
During the delivery of the 2014/15 National Budget to Parliament Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan said that the youth employment tax incentive recorded 56 000 beneficiaries in its first month. What is he talking about? The Employment Tax Incentive is an incentive aimed at encouraging employers to hire young and less experienced work seekers. It came into […]
The challenges and lessons learned in securing post-school placements for township-based matrics: Achieving against the odds
Annually the township matriculants participating in the IkamvaYouth programme exceeds all expectations in terms of their matric exam performance and 96% of them have accessed opportunity (educational/employment) within 5 months of matriculating. But the untold story behind these impressive statistics reflects many challenges, frustrations, obstacles and disappointments inherent in trying to secure post-school placements for […]
Online training – can it work for NGOs?
The other day while trying to give advice to someone who posted a question on our website regarding the problems he is experiencing to get his start-up business afloat, I made an awesome discovery. A website called EO Bootcamp which includes nine online courses that make up a comprehensive education for anyone wishing to learn more about […]
How Rural Youth Access Information on Tertiary Education Opportunities
This learning brief reports on a research study aimed at improving the understanding of how high school learners learn about, and access information on, tertiary education. Specifically, the study investigated the type, accessibility, and sources of information on higher education available to rural learners in KwaZulu-Natal. Read the main findings of this study here.
